


Bravery

by gingayellow



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-23
Updated: 2016-06-23
Packaged: 2018-07-16 22:38:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7287520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gingayellow/pseuds/gingayellow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shiro has tried to save Keith twice (once in a Galra cell, once in the Castle of Lions). [Shiro/Keith, content warnings for remembering past trauma, and mentioned brainwashing, mentioned violence]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bravery

**Author's Note:**

> For hc_bingo, the prompt is "forced to hurt someone."

Title: Bravery  
Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender  
Characters/Pairing: Shiro/Keith  
Rating: PG-13  
Disclaimer: Not mine, anything mentioned here by name isn't mine  
Warnings: Remembering trauma, mentioned brainwashing, mentioned violence. If there's anything else I forgot to tag, please let me know, and I will.  
Notes: For hc_bingo, the prompt is "forced to hurt someone."

_Shiro is alone in his cell when he realizes that he is broken._

_He can’t resist a whole empire. No one can. The Holts are gone. The people doomed to fight in those matches are gone. And he… he’s had to hurt so many to save his own miserable life._

_He’s tired of fighting._

_**Whoever you were, that’s over. You're Zarkon’s now.** _

_He stares at the arm Haggar gave him. When she returns, he’ll apologize for struggling, and admit that he’s ready to begin the conditioning again._

_**You can’t.** _

_He’s also too tired to question Keith is in his cell. So he just tries to force his lips into a farewell smile._

_**You can’t give up.** Keith kneels before him, hands on Shiro’s shoulders._

_Shiro attempts to ignore how warm Keith’s hands feel. “I’m not strong enough to fight it.”_

_**Shiro, you’re the strongest person I know.** _

_“That Shiro is gone.”_

_**Really? Because I could’ve sworn that Shiro’s currently sitting on his butt in a Galra cell.** Shiro flinches, because while he suspects this Keith may not be real, the bluntness is. **You still have something to do. Haggar got in your head, which means she knows that Earth isn’t ready for an invasion. Which means Zarkon knows Earth isn’t ready for an invasion.**_

_“No,” Shiro breathes, because Keith’s right. It’s fine if he stops fighting, but he can’t let the same thing happen to his family, his friends, his teachers, Mrs. Holt, Katie Holt, Keith—_

_For the first time in ages, he’s thinking clearly. He can’t give up. He has to save everyone. Except… “Keith, what should we do?”_

_Keith frowned. **Didn’t Haggar whisper something about some weapon named Voltron?**_

_“More than once.” He’s heard the name, when they though he was unconscious. He’s asked fellow prisoners when he can. “It’s a god. But also a robot, I think?” But if they could find Voltron, they can stop Zarkon._

_**Weird. But okay.** _

_“I have to escape now, and find Voltron.” Haggar is coming for him. But he’s noticed a pattern in the guards, he’s been escorted to his cell enough he has a good idea of what the ship layout is, and he can fly spaceships. “Thank you, Keith.” Even if this Keith isn’t real, he’s grateful. “You brought me back to myself.”_

_Keith smiles one of those rare, real smiles. **You were always here. I just reminded you of that.**_

_Shiro’s alone again._

_He times it so he can sneak past the guards. He doesn’t want to fight._

_He succeeds, and a craft is within eyesight when they come for him, but no, no, they’re here for him, but he won’t go back, he **won’t** , he has to save Keith—_

\--

“ ** _Keith!_** ”

If the door hadn’t swung open, Shiro would have knocked it down. He sprinted down the corridor, because Keith needed him to save him, he was in danger, he—

He was on his bed, taking off a boot, and blinking at Shiro. “You okay?”

Shiro groaned as reality slowly came back to him. “Yeah.” This was going to take a lot of explaining. “You know how sometimes I’ll get memories back suddenly?”

Keith ripped off his remaining boot. Barefoot, he made his way to Shiro. “Yes.”

“I had one of them. Well, it was also a dream, I think. Some weird mix of the two, and I thought you needed me. But seeing how you’re getting ready for bed, I’m guessing I was wrong.” Shiro did his best to smile. “I’ll let you sleep.”

“We’re having a sleepover.”

“Good night—wait. What?”

Keith shrugged. “You’re obviously rattled, and after that, I won’t be able to sleep unless I know you’re okay. But if you don’t wanna, I can’t make you.”

He didn’t like putting Keith out, but… “Thank you.” There weren’t any chairs in Keith’s room, so he opted for the bed. “What I remembered was intense.” And while he knew that Keith was safe, it was still a relief as Keith sat on the bed next to him.

“Shiro.” Keith gazed at him levelly. “Tell me what you need me to do.”

“Hm? Well, just this is fine.”

“No, it’s not.” His face was still neutral, but a hint of anger crept into his tone. “You wouldn’t have barged in here if it was.”

“Keith, I promise, I’m okay.” Of course, he’d been terrified, but now he was in the castle, with Keith. It was a bad memory, but he was back in the present now. He patted Keith’s shoulder. “If anything, I should be asking how you are. I did kinda sorta startle you.” His tone was light, because it was a joke. Keith would smile, joke back a little, and the subject would change to whatever Keith felt like talking about.

Except Keith pulled away. “Why do you keep doing this?” There was more anger in his voice this time, and then he stomped off, and Shiro was pretty sure that the only reason Keith didn’t run away from his own room was because Shiro grabbed his arm gently.

“Keith, please tell me what I said wrong, so I can fix it.”

Keith didn’t look at him. “It’s nothing you said.”

Shiro took a deep breath. He couldn’t let his emotions get the best of him. “Then what did I do?”

Keith hung his head, and Shiro was struck by how vulnerable he was right now. As much as students and co-workers (and now Lance) called him unfeeling, Shiro knew only too well that Keith put up walls because he felt too much, too keenly. “Keith. Please.”

“You used to trust me.” His voice was so quiet. Lost.

“I do.” He really did. “But I’m still trying to remember what happened to me, and…” Darn it. “I know you spent a year worried about me.” Keith, alone in that little cottage in the desert, with nothing but memories and lions. “I… I need you to be okay.”

Keith looked up at him, but only for a moment. “I wish I could do more.”

Oh. Then maybe he needed to do the talking after all. “Keith, you’ve already done so much.”

“But—”

“I remembered when I was a prisoner,” Shiro steadied himself. He could do this. He’d spoken of his past before, after all. “I was broken. Changed. Made into what Zarkon wanted me to be.” Keith said nothing, but reached out for Shiro’s hands. A silent reminder that if he wanted to stop here, or keep going, Keith would support him.

Shiro decided to keep going. “What kept me going was you. How you would’ve believed in me, even if I wasn’t the same Shiro that left Earth. And…”

Keith squeezed his hands.

This was going to be hard to say, but Keith deserved to know. “The reason Zarkon wanted me was because I was a pilot who’d been trained off world. I had valuable skills. I knew that if I didn’t do something, he would go to Earth and select people who… Keith, you’re the best pilot I’ve met in my life. I couldn’t let Zarkon take you, I couldn’t—”

Keith grabbed him in a rough hug, burying his face in Shiro’s neck.

“And that’s why,” Shiro said, somewhere between laughing and fighting back a sob, “I came into your room screaming.”

They were both quiet for awhile, as Shiro stroked Keith’s back. He still felt raw (and doubted Keith felt much better), but this was better than just bottling it up.

And when Keith pulled away to smile up at him, warm and real, Shiro knew that it was okay.

“I missed you,” he admitted, his hands still on Keith’s back.

“I have, too.” Keith reached out, tracing the outline of Shiro’s face. “I just. You’ve been dealing with stuff, and I’m a mess. I didn’t want to add in trying to figure out this part.”

“I understand. But,” and Shiro cleared his throat. “I’m here, you’re here, and we’ve both been reminded how much we mean to each other.”

Keith looked flustered, and Shiro would be lying if he said Keith didn’t look adorable right now. “Um. Is it okay if I kiss you now?”

Shiro felt himself grin. “Of course.”

This wasn’t their first kiss, but it felt just as awkward as one. They took a minute just to figure out how to angle their bodies, and Shiro had to fight back laughing more than once (because if so much as a giggle got out, he just knew Keith would never forgive him). Their noses bumped the first time they went for it. The second time, they stopped so Keith could stretch his arm. But the third time, he **finally** felt Keith’s lips against his, and yes, he could himself doing this again.

But it was getting late, and they both needed to sleep. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Well, you could stay here.”

“I’m sorry?”

Keith shed his jacket, tossing it on the floor. “We’re boyfriends again now, right?”

“I’d like to think, so, yes.”

He put his knife away. “So do I. The bed’s big enough. I have no problem with it if you don’t.”

Well, why not? He was already in his pajamas. And honestly, he was tired, and having Keith pressed up against him always did help him sleep.

“You know,” Shiro said as he settled into bed, “I’m sure we could find you some pajamas of your own.”

“No.” Still in his shirt and pants, Keith curled up against him, and Shiro took a moment to appreciate how familiar it felt. “Gotta make sure I’m ready to fight… just in case.”

_My brave Paladin._ And if his thoughts were this syrupy, it was time for bed.

Shiro closed his eyes, and slept soundly for the rest of the night.


End file.
